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Originally posted by Stuart Silver I was wondering what you guys do when you're playing out? Do you plan your setlist in advance, make it up completley on the night or just know a few tunes that 'fit' together and go with that? I seem to be a bit piss-poor at key-matching on the fly at the minute so I'm happier if I'm playing a set I've pre-planned, so I can concentrate on the mixes rather than if the tunes fit together. Opinions please

i always freestyle every set, no execptions. you never know what the crowd is going to be in the mood for. what if you plan out your entire set, then the two djs that open for you play half the songs you planned out? then what do you do? you freestyle anyway. learn your records. when you practice mix them all together. try not to mix the same two records together when you practice again. you'll get a feel for what goes together and what doesn't. a good exercise is to get one of your friends over and switch record boxes. then just pull records at random and mix blind. you'll be freestyling in no time. cheers.

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I have never ever planned a set - and i do this for a living(4 nites a week). One of the reasons i take such an obscene amount of vinyl with me every nite is i like to be prepared for every eventuality.

One of the most important skills is being able to read the crowd and dancefloor- this is something that training as a warm up dj initially trained me very very well for.

If you have a big long list planned- yet one tune empties the dancefloor-maybe because its too hard or just unpopular or something- then you couldnt continue with your list if the following few tunes you have planned are similar...

That goes for any style- not just trance.


I always think one record ahead- maybe a few ahead, and i have an idea of where im taking it- but ultimately the dance floor and crowd as a whole dictates the choice of tunes and if something chokes then ill change that direction.

I think you will find most pro djs dont plan their sets

i never plan my set, as VIO said - you must learn and well know that, what you want to play...feel free and go ahead